Publications

20 Mar 2000
Research & Ideas

No Place Like Home: America’s Housing Crisis and Its Impact on Business

In many parts of the country, housing costs and shortages have begun to show signs of adversely affecting corporations, workers, and local economies. Affordable housing — such as Boston's Orchard Gardens, —... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Construction; Real Estate

31 Oct 2016
Research & Ideas

Quantitative Easing Didn’t Ease the Housing Crisis for the Neediest

millions of homeowners who lived in areas where the steep crash in house prices left them underwater, unemployed, or with damaged credit,” he explains. “Borrowers in distressed areas tended not to qualify for the strict guidelines of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

September 2021
Article

Did Technology Contribute to the Housing Boom? Evidence from MERS

By: Stefan Lewellen and Emily Williams

We examine the effects of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, on mortgage origination volumes and foreclosure rates prior to the Great Recession. MERS was introduced in the late 1990s and significantly reduced the cost and time associated with... View Details

Keywords: Credit Supply; Housing Boom; Financial Innovation; Nonbank Lenders; Mortgages; Credit; Expansion; Information Technology; Outcome or Result

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27 Feb 2008
Research & Ideas

Podcast: Revisiting Rental Housing

state of affairs, how we got there, and how we might improve the lot of the American renter. In this podcast, Retsinas, who teaches at Harvard Business School and is director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Construction; Real Estate

2007
Chapter

Patrimonio Hoy: A Groundbreaking Corporate Program to Alleviate Mexico's Housing Crisis

By: Arthur I Segel

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Housing; Mexico

23 Apr 2024
Cold Call Podcast

Amazon in Seattle: The Role of Business in Causing and Solving a Housing Crisis

Keywords: Re: Paul M. Healy; Technology

2020
Working Paper

Bankruptcy and the COVID-19 Crisis

By: Jialan Wang, Jeyul Yang, Benjamin Iverson and Raymond Kluender

We examine the impact of the COVID-19 economic crisis on business and consumer bankruptcies in the United States using real-time data on the universe of filings. Historically, bankruptcies have closely tracked the business cycle and contemporaneous unemployment rates.... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Financial Distress; COVID-19; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Crisis; Health Pandemics; United States

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22 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

When Will the Hot Housing Market Finally Start to Cool?

And when you have a whole lot of money, prices adjust up. "Boise, Idaho, had the strongest appreciation of any housing market in the United States." We’ve seen similar factors here, but there are some significant differences. We don’t... View Details

Keywords: by Christine Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

January 2009 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Spain: Can the House Resist the Storm?

By: Diego A. Comin

On September 16, 2008, President Rodriguez Zapatero recognized the severity of Spain's macroeconomic situation and clearly pointed to the culprit in front of the Spanish Congress: "Let nobody doubt it; there is already a wide consensus about the origin of the crisis:... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Economy; Financial Crisis; Macroeconomics; System Shocks; Spain

29 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

Financial Crisis Caution Urged by Faculty Panel

Liquidity Dean Jay Light began his introductory remarks by characterizing the crisis and collapse of housing prices as a test that has exposed how fragile the recently evolved U.S. financial system is.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

August 2020
Case

This Old House of Worship: St. Anthony Shrine (A)

By: Ryan Raffaelli

This multimedia case asks students to consider how leaders of non-profit organizations manage difficult financial, operational, and cultural turnarounds. Since its founding in 1947, St. Anthony Shrine had been a central partner in serving the Downtown Boston community.... View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Change Management; Turnarounds; Non-profit Management; Leadership; Change Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; Religion; Mission and Purpose; Transformation; Organizational Culture; United States

January 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Subprime Meltdown: American Housing and Global Financial Turmoil

By: Julio Rotemberg

This case focuses on the financial difficulties faced in the U.S. from August to December 2006 as well as their roots in subprime lending. After briefly discussing how mortgages were structured and traded in the pre-1990 period, it describes subprime mortgage lending,... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Central Banking; Financial Markets; Mortgages; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; United States

May 2008
Teaching Note

Subprime Meltdown: American Housing and Global Financial Turmoil

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

Teaching Note for [708042]. View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Debt Securities; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Markets; Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Central Banking; Policy; United States; Europe

10 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty Views on Debt Crisis

likely contributed to the great recession by inflating the housing and credit bubbles in 2005-2007. But when it comes to sovereign risk, they are getting it right. Across the world, there are many serious threats to the long-term ability... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

22 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Reading the Financial Crisis Warning Signs: Credit Markets and the 'Red-Zone'

of periods of overheated credit markets. We try to track crises using a measure of overheating that we developed and call the “Red-zone.” The Red-zone is a combination of credit expansion and high asset prices. In the domain of houses and... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Banking

November 2, 2012
Editorial

America Needs a Chief Strategy Officer

By: Andy Zelleke and Justin Talbot Zorn

The White House needs someone to look beyond the crisis of the day and focus on the United States' role in the world. View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Government Administration; Management Teams; United States

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September 2014 (Revised May 2015)
Case

The United Kingdom and the Means to Prosperity

By: Laura Alfaro, Lakshmi Iyer and Hilary White

After struggling through the country's longest recession since 2008, the U.K. was expected to grow faster than any other G7 nation in 2014. Analysts wondered whether the return to growth was because, or in spite of, Prime Minister David Cameron's controversial £113... View Details

May 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

America's Budget Impasse, 2009–2023

By: Richard Vietor

In May of 2023, President Biden faced a crisis of debt. The debt ceiling was about to be breached, while House Republicans demanded cuts of $3.5 trillion if they were to raise the ceiling. President Biden refused. The case consists of excerpts from President Obama’s... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Economy

October 2005
Case

Tad Piper and Piper Jaffray

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2005, Tad Piper reflects on the successful spin-off from US Bancorp of Piper Jaffray, the investment bank founded by his grandfather. Profiles the development of Piper Jaffray from a Midwestern brokerage house to a national, diversified financial services firm. In... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Leadership Style; Management Style; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry